My Favorite Lines: A Man's Search For Meaning By Viktor Frankl

Below are a few of My Favorite Lines from A Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. You can find all my notes HERE.

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“Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your inner freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation. You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you.” - p. x

“Don’t aim at success -- the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what you conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run -- in the long run, I say! -- success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it.” - p. xv

“A man’s suffering is similar to the behavior of gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the ‘size’ of human suffering is absolutely relative.” - p. 44

“In attempting this psychological presentation and a psychopathological explanation of the typical characteristics of a concentration camp inmate, I may give the impression that the human being is completely and unavoidably influenced by his surroundings. (In this case the surroundings being the unique of camp life, which forced the prisoner to conform his conduct to a certain set pattern.) But what about human liberty? Is there no spiritual freedom in regard to behavior and reaction to any given surroundings? Is that theory true which would have us believe that man is no more than a product of many conditional and environmental factors -- be they of a biological, psychological or sociological nature? Is man but an accidental product of these? Most important, do the prisoners’ reactions to the singular world of the concentration camp prove that man cannot escape the influences of his surroundings? Does man have no choice of action in the face of such circumstances?

We can answer these questions from experience as well as on principle. The experiences of camp life show that man does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress.

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms -- to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

And there were always choices to make. Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, you inner freedom; which determined whether or not you would become the playing of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of the typical inmate.

Seen from this point of view, the mental reactions of the inmates of a concentration camp must seem more to us than the mere expression of certain physical and sociological conditions. Even though conditions such as lack of sleep, insufficient food and various mental stresses may suggest that the inmates were bound to react in certain ways, in the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone. Fundamentally, therefore any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him -- mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp.” - p. 65-66

“Thus it can be seen that mental health is based on a certain degree of tension, the tension between what one has already achieved and what one still ought to accomplish, or the gap between what one is and what one should become ... What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.” - p. 104-105

“Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.” - p. 109

“Being human always points, and is directed, to something, or someone, other than oneself -- be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself -- by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love -- the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself.” - p. 110-111

“The question was whether an ape which was being used to develop poliomyelitis serum, and for this reason punctured again and again, would ever be able to grasp the meaning of its suffering. Unanimously, the group replied that of course it would not: with its limited intelligence, it could not enter into the world of man, i.e., the only world in which the meaning of its suffering would be understandable. Then I pushed forward with the following question: ‘And what about man? Are you sure the world is a terminal point in the evolution of the cosmos? Is it not conceivable that there is still another dimension, a world beyond man’s world; a world in which the question of an ultimate meaning of human suffering would find an answer?’” - p. 118

“First of all, there is a danger inherent in the teaching of man’s ‘nothingbutness,’ the theory that is nothing but the result of biological, psychological and sociological conditions, or the product of heredity and environment. Such a view of man makes a neurotic believe what he is prone to be believe anyway, that he is the pawn and victim of outer influences or inner circumstances. This neurotic fatalism is fostered and strengthened by a psychotherapy which denies man is free.

To be sure, a human being is a finite thing, and his freedom is restricted. It is not freedom from conditions, but it is freedom to take a stand toward conditions. As I once put it: ‘As a professor in two fields, neurology and psychiatry, I am fully aware of the extent to which man is subject to biological, psychological and sociological conditions. But in addition to being a professor in two fields I am a survivor of four camps -- concentration camps, that is -- and as such I also bear witness to the unexpected extent to which man is capable of defying and braving even the worst conditions conceivable.” - p. 130

“Man is not fully conditioned or determined but rather determines himself whether he gives in to conditions or stands up to them. In other words, man is ultimately self-determining. Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment.” - p. 131

My Favorite Lines: The Advantage By Patrick Lencioni

Below are a few of My Favorite Lines from The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni. You can read all my notes HERE. 

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“Failing to hold someone accountable is ultimately an act of selfishness.” - p. 59

“There is no getting around the fact that the only measure of a great team -- or a great organization -- is whether it accomplishes what it sets out to accomplish.” - p. 65

“Alignment is about creating so much clarity that there is as little room as possible for confusion, disorder, and infighting to set in.” - p. 74

“A good plan violently executed today is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” - General Patton, p. 79

"All organizations exist to make people’s lives better." - p. 82

“When it comes to creating organizational clarity and alignment, intolerance is essential. After all, if an organization is tolerant of everything, it will stand for nothing.” - p. 91

“Great leaders see themselves as Chief Reminding Officers.” - p. 142

“Most executives get enamored with what candidates know and have done in their careers and allow those things to overshadow more important behavioral issues. They don’t seem to buy into the notion that you can teach skill but not attitude.” - p. 156

My Favorite Lines: Above The Line By Urban Meyer

Below are a few of my favorite lines from Above the Line by Urban Meyer. You can find all my notes HERE.

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"We don’t control the events in life, and we don’t directly control the outcomes. But we always have control over how we choose to respond. How we respond means everything. We call it the R Factor." - p. 43

"How you feel is not always the best guide for you what you should do." - p. 47

"Make sure the habits you have today are in alignment with the dreams and goals you have for tomorrow." - p. 51

"Embrace discomfort. Discomfort marks the place where the old way meets the new. Discomfort indicates that change is about to happen. Push through the pain. If it doesn’t challenge you, it will not change you." - p. 52

"If you permit it, you promote it." - p. 74

"Here’s the not so hidden secret for achieving extraordinary success: clarify what you really want, then work as hard as you can for as long as it takes." - p. 91

"Success is cumulative and progressive. It is the result of what you do every day. ... Success is not achieved by an occasional heroic response. Success is achieved by focused and sustained action. All achievement is a series of choices. The bigger the achievement, the longer the series and more challenging the choices." - p. 91

"It’s your training versus his training." - p. 102

10-80-10 Principle: "At the very center of it, the nucleus, are the top 10 percenters, people who give all they’ve got all the time, who are the essence of self-discipline, self-respect, and the relentless pursuit of improvement. ... Outside the nucleus are the 80 percenters. They are the majority  -- people who go to work, do a good job, and are relatively reliable. ... The final 10 percenters are uninterested or defiant. ... How well you perform as a team is going to depend on the work you do with the 80 percenters. That’s why I devote more time to them by far than to either of the 10 percenters." - p. 161-162

"I can’t relate to lazy people. We don’t speak the same language. I don’t understand you. I don’t want to understand you." - p. 164 (Kobe Bryant)

"If your habits don’t reflect your dreams and goals, you can either change your habits or change your dreams and goals.” - p. 174

My Favorite Lines: Champions By Daniel Chambliss

Below are a few of my favorite lines from Champions: The Making of Olympic Swimmer by Daniel Chambliss. You can find all my notes HERE.

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“They become champions by doing what needs to be done, by doing everything right, by concentrating on all the silly details that others overlook. What makes them champions is the knowledge -- and action following from that knowledge -- that champions are only real people, not gods, and that all it takes to be a champion is to do what champions do.” - p. 14

“The difference, what makes Schubert and a few others remarkable, is not their knowledge, not something that could be learned from a book, symposium, or clinic, but simply their willingness to do
what is necessary. All the ‘little’ things Schubert began in his first summer at Mission mattered.” - p. 32

“He attracted others who wanted to become great and were willing to pay the price.” - p. 37

“Going to the beach is fine, but if you want to be on this team, you have to come to practice. You see
these guys? They want to be national champions, and as a team we want to be national champions. If you want to be one, you can train with us. If you don’t, you can train somewhere else.” - p. 61

“I just came here to get more guts.” - p. 69

“This is an ‘heroic’ conceit -- a literary device, basically -- and it actually does a terrible injustice to the athletes, for the heroic conceit mystifies excellence, removing it from the routines of daily life where it must, each day, be lived; it looks back over years and years of small events and tries to explain them in a quick phrase: ‘a career of excellence,’ ‘incredible dedication,’ ‘the will to win.’ So it fails, finally to do justice to the drab routine of athletic training, and it presents dedication, too, as a gift -- as something that one day you just ‘have’ (like ‘talent’). In fact, world-class athletes get to the top level by making a thousand little decisions every morning and night. If you make the right choice on each of these -- decide to get up and go to practice, decide to work hard today, decide to volunteer to do an extra event to help you team -- then others will say you ‘have’ dedication. But it is only the doing of those little things, all taken together, that makes dedication. Great swimmers aren’t made in the long run; they are made every day.” - p. 94

“Hard training was the key to success; if the preparation was right, the performance would follow.” - p. 114

“There was no room for being ‘cool,’ for staying even a little bit detached.” - p. 172

“[Meagher] had become excellent, she believed, by doing fairly ordinary things consistently and with care. She was better than most swimmers, she thought, because she worked hard and enjoyed it … and because of a whole series of mundane habits she had developed over the years.” - p. 200

“Doing is the only thing that counts. The truth is simple: Most swimmers choose everyday not to do the little things. They choose, in effect, not to win. They say, ‘I could do this workout if I wanted to’ … In some sense, everyone ‘could’ win the Olympic Games, but ‘could’ doesn’t count. The gold medal is reserved for those who do.” - p. 215

My Favorite Lines: Extreme Ownership By Jocko Willink And Leif Babin

The following are a few of my favorite lines from Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin:

Introduction
"The only meaningful measure for a leader is whether the team succeeds or fails."

"Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame."

Chapter 1: Extreme Ownership
"On any team, in any organization, all responsibility for success and failure rests with the leader. The leader must own everything in his or her world. There is no one else to blame. The leader must acknowledge mistakes and admit failures, take ownership of them, and develop a plan to win."

"When subordinates aren't doing what they should, leaders that exercise extreme ownership cannot
blame the subordinates. They must first look in the mirror at themselves. The leader bears full responsibility for explaining the strategic mission, developing the tactics, and securing training and resources to enable the team to properly and successfully execute. If an individual on the team is not performing at the level required for the team to succeed, the leader must train and mentor that underperformer. But if the underperformer continually fails to meet standards, then a leader who exercises extreme ownership must be loyal to the team and the mission above any individual. If underperformers cannot improve, the leader must make the tough call to terminate them and hire others who can get the job done. It is all on the leader."

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To be continued ...